The new "Pet Sematary" film will
soon be hitting theaters, and I'm feeling pretty excited. I actually just
finished another read-through of the novel, in part to prepare for the
movie's release, but also because I hadn't read the book in years and
felt I was due to revisit it. I liked it as much as I always have, but I
think my admiration for it has grown. Folks, this novel is an absolute
must-read. It is one of King's finest, a definite masterpiece, and
perhaps as close as he's come to writing a flawless book.
It is well known that King has often referred to this book as the one that caused him to feel he'd finally gone too far. Apparently, upon first writing it, he ended up locking it away in a drawer, expecting never to publish it. My understanding is that he submitted it, at his wife's urging, to Doubleday in order to satisfy a multi-book contract. I am immensely grateful that he did. I shudder to think that this novel very nearly didn't see the light of day.
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I believe this novel to be a modern day classic. In fact, it is as significant to me as some of Edgar Allen Poe's writing or even Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Too bold a statement? Perhaps. But I genuinely feel that Pet Sematary transcends the genre of popular horror fiction; it is a serious examination of the psychological and spiritual themes it is built upon.
There is rich spiritual/religious symbolism in the story. For example, I was immediately aware of the apparent relevance of the family's last name, Creed. And I understood there was symbolic meaning in the cat being nicknamed "Church." When Church suffers a natural, albeit untimely, death, he is resurrected by a kind of dark magic that violates the essential laws of life of death. Jud and Louis cross a barrier that is not meant to be broken. This is done so mainly out of genuine sorrow and concern for young Ellie, but it is a fundamental sin against the order of nature.
One of the book's recurring lines is: "The soil of a man's heart is stonier, Louis..." This struck me as an allusion to the Biblical "Parable of the Sower" (Matthew 13). Tragically, Louis is ultimately unable to accept the reality of death and the attendant suffering it requires. He is overcome by his grief, and rejects the warnings he has been given. Louis hears the truth, from a dying Victor Pascow and later, even from Jud. But he is tempted, in part by evil supernatural forces, and partly doomed on account of adherence to his own personal creed. In his book Stephen King: The Art of Darkness (1986), Douglas E. Winter notes that Louis' creed is rationality, and that his destruction comes because "he has apparently acquired the ultimate skill of his profession as a physician--the ability to return the dead to life--and he cannot help but use it" (p. 151). As cited by Winter, King himself called this aspect of the story "Christian," stating "it (Pet Sematary) is a book about what happens when you attempt to perform miracles without informing them of any sense of real soul" (p. 151).
Not unlike Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, who violated God's command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thereby suffered pain and death, Louis also fails to heed the wisdom given to him. He is told to trust that "sometimes...dead is better," but he cannot. Louis sees the brutal proof of this tenet for himself, more than once, but even when he has suffered everything, still he persists in trying to preserve that which is meant to perish. Carrying his dead wife in his arms, he rationalizes that maybe it will be different this time...
The book is very well paced, and King keeps his attention pretty tightly focused on the central themes, resisting the urge to add extraneous subplots and characters. And to those who feel King's Achilles heel is his endings, well, this book has perhaps his best ever. It may be true that the book builds slowly, but the final hundred pages or so are propulsive. The momentum builds, and it careens headlong toward a hellish conclusion. But it is not simply the suspense that makes the ending so powerful. It is that King follows the implications of the story's central ideas and themes all the way through. He does not compromise. He doesn't flinch, not for even a moment. I am actually sort of amazed that King was able to stare wide-eyed into the dark recesses of this story, to follow it all the way down into hell. I truly believe it must have taken a lot of courage to do so.
Throughout his career, King has undoubtedly had a lot of fun using his stories to explore horrifying "what if's." But I can't imagine this one was any fun for him. It is a book filled with pain and sadness--it is as tragic a story as he's ever written, and perhaps as tragic a story as is possible to write--and explores ideas that are difficult to contemplate, but are of fundamental importance. In essence, King is looking, unblinkingly, into what it costs us as human beings when we fail to accept the realities inherent in our mortality. The consequences, he argues, are devastatingly steep, both psychologically and spiritually. There is not a shade of silliness in the supernatural elements of this story. It is utterly, savagely serious. This is because, I believe, the central point of the book is anything but silly, nor is it to be taken lightly. If you're hoping to be scared by Pet Sematary, you will not be disappointed. But you may also find it more challenging, and more troubling than you expect. The ideas King is exploring here are as awful as any his mind has ever conjured. They are terrifying to consider, but deeply significant. The reputation of Pet Sematary suggests it will frighten you, and it will. But maybe not in precisely the ways you expect. And there is, dare I say, even something essential to be learned from it.
It is well known that King has often referred to this book as the one that caused him to feel he'd finally gone too far. Apparently, upon first writing it, he ended up locking it away in a drawer, expecting never to publish it. My understanding is that he submitted it, at his wife's urging, to Doubleday in order to satisfy a multi-book contract. I am immensely grateful that he did. I shudder to think that this novel very nearly didn't see the light of day.
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I believe this novel to be a modern day classic. In fact, it is as significant to me as some of Edgar Allen Poe's writing or even Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Too bold a statement? Perhaps. But I genuinely feel that Pet Sematary transcends the genre of popular horror fiction; it is a serious examination of the psychological and spiritual themes it is built upon.
There is rich spiritual/religious symbolism in the story. For example, I was immediately aware of the apparent relevance of the family's last name, Creed. And I understood there was symbolic meaning in the cat being nicknamed "Church." When Church suffers a natural, albeit untimely, death, he is resurrected by a kind of dark magic that violates the essential laws of life of death. Jud and Louis cross a barrier that is not meant to be broken. This is done so mainly out of genuine sorrow and concern for young Ellie, but it is a fundamental sin against the order of nature.
One of the book's recurring lines is: "The soil of a man's heart is stonier, Louis..." This struck me as an allusion to the Biblical "Parable of the Sower" (Matthew 13). Tragically, Louis is ultimately unable to accept the reality of death and the attendant suffering it requires. He is overcome by his grief, and rejects the warnings he has been given. Louis hears the truth, from a dying Victor Pascow and later, even from Jud. But he is tempted, in part by evil supernatural forces, and partly doomed on account of adherence to his own personal creed. In his book Stephen King: The Art of Darkness (1986), Douglas E. Winter notes that Louis' creed is rationality, and that his destruction comes because "he has apparently acquired the ultimate skill of his profession as a physician--the ability to return the dead to life--and he cannot help but use it" (p. 151). As cited by Winter, King himself called this aspect of the story "Christian," stating "it (Pet Sematary) is a book about what happens when you attempt to perform miracles without informing them of any sense of real soul" (p. 151).
Not unlike Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, who violated God's command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thereby suffered pain and death, Louis also fails to heed the wisdom given to him. He is told to trust that "sometimes...dead is better," but he cannot. Louis sees the brutal proof of this tenet for himself, more than once, but even when he has suffered everything, still he persists in trying to preserve that which is meant to perish. Carrying his dead wife in his arms, he rationalizes that maybe it will be different this time...
To King's credit, as readers, we do not judge
Louis for this. King conveys Louis' feelings and mentality so clearly and
persuasively that we sympathize deeply with him. King helps us to enter
into Louis' grief, to really feel it, and despite seeing the error in his
actions, we understand what compels him. In general, the character work
in this novel is among the most realistic, sharply observed, and
psychologically complex King has ever put to page. Along these lines, Pet
Sematary contains some of the most insightful, poignant, and devastating
writing King has ever done on the subject of grief. I particularly admire
how King handles the character of Rachel, who was deeply traumatized as a child
by the suffering and death of her sister Zelda. King develops a strong
basis for Rachel's emotional defenses and irrational beliefs about death.
Such underpinnings allow the character interactions and conflicts in this book
to have substantial depth.
The book is very well paced, and King keeps his attention pretty tightly focused on the central themes, resisting the urge to add extraneous subplots and characters. And to those who feel King's Achilles heel is his endings, well, this book has perhaps his best ever. It may be true that the book builds slowly, but the final hundred pages or so are propulsive. The momentum builds, and it careens headlong toward a hellish conclusion. But it is not simply the suspense that makes the ending so powerful. It is that King follows the implications of the story's central ideas and themes all the way through. He does not compromise. He doesn't flinch, not for even a moment. I am actually sort of amazed that King was able to stare wide-eyed into the dark recesses of this story, to follow it all the way down into hell. I truly believe it must have taken a lot of courage to do so.
Throughout his career, King has undoubtedly had a lot of fun using his stories to explore horrifying "what if's." But I can't imagine this one was any fun for him. It is a book filled with pain and sadness--it is as tragic a story as he's ever written, and perhaps as tragic a story as is possible to write--and explores ideas that are difficult to contemplate, but are of fundamental importance. In essence, King is looking, unblinkingly, into what it costs us as human beings when we fail to accept the realities inherent in our mortality. The consequences, he argues, are devastatingly steep, both psychologically and spiritually. There is not a shade of silliness in the supernatural elements of this story. It is utterly, savagely serious. This is because, I believe, the central point of the book is anything but silly, nor is it to be taken lightly. If you're hoping to be scared by Pet Sematary, you will not be disappointed. But you may also find it more challenging, and more troubling than you expect. The ideas King is exploring here are as awful as any his mind has ever conjured. They are terrifying to consider, but deeply significant. The reputation of Pet Sematary suggests it will frighten you, and it will. But maybe not in precisely the ways you expect. And there is, dare I say, even something essential to be learned from it.
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